All eyes on Trump, Kim in Singapore for nuclear talks

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore for the summit meeting with President Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore for the summit meeting with President Trump.

Photo: Terence Tan / Tribune News Service

Photo: Terence Tan / Tribune News Service

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore for the summit meeting with President Trump.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Singapore for the summit meeting with President Trump.

Photo: Terence Tan / Tribune News Service

All eyes on Trump, Kim in Singapore for nuclear talks

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SINGAPORE — President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un converged on this island city-state Sunday ahead of one of the most unusual and highly anticipated summits in recent world history, a sit-down meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

Trump descended from Air Force One into the steamy Singapore night, greeting officials and declaring he felt “very good,” before he was whisked away to his hotel, driving along a route lined with police and photo-snapping onlookers.

Hours earlier, a jet carrying Kim landed. After shaking hands with the Singapore foreign minister, Kim sped through the streets in a limousine, two large North Korean flags fluttering on the hood, surrounded by other black vehicles with tinted windows and bound for the luxurious and closely guarded St. Regis Hotel.

He and Trump are set to meet Tuesday morning in the first summit of its kind between a leader of North Korea and a sitting U.S. president. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“The entire world is watching the historic summit between (North Korea) and the United States of America, and thanks to your sincere efforts ... we were able to complete the preparations for the historic summit,” Kim told Lee through an interpreter.

Trump has said he hopes to make a legacy-defining deal for the North to give up its nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to manage expectations, saying that it may take more than one meeting.

The North, many experts believe, stands on the brink of being able to target the entire U.S. mainland with its nuclear-armed missiles, and while there’s deep skepticism that Kim will quickly give up his nukes, there’s also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the U.S. and the North.

The meeting was initially meant to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons, but the talks have been portrayed by Trump in recent days more as a get-to-know-you session. Trump has also raised the possibility of further summits and an agreement ending the Korean War by replacing the armistice signed in 1953 with a peace treaty.